On Mon, 31 Jul 2006 15:04:05 -0500, gringo
nospam.net> wrote:
>SapperPest19 wrote:
>> On Sun, 30 Jul 2006 22:49:33 -0500, gringo
nospam.net> wrote:
>>
>> >>> SapperPest19 wrote:
>>>
>>>> On Fri, 28 Jul 2006 03:05:55 -0500, gringo
nospam.net> wrote:
>>>>>>>>>> -The percentage of drivers who reported dozing at the wheel at least
>>>>>> once during the past month was about 13 percent in 2003 and about 15
>>>>>> percent in 2004.
>>>>>> (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Sound real safe and responsible. At least for 85% of the truckers. I
>>>>>> think it was you that posted that there are 4.5 million truckers.
>>>>>> That's about 675,000 truckers who fall asleep at the wheel about once
>>>>>> a month. Just taking a wild low guess, let's say 1/3 of the truckers
>>>>>> are actually out driving at any given time. 2/3 of the truckers are
>>>>>> sitting at home at any given time. Crude math here, 50 states, 30 days
>>>>>> a month, that gives you about 150 truckers falling asleep behind the
>>>>>> wheel per state every night.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So truckers are more likely to get in a wreck and a significant number
>>>>>> of them sleep behind the wheel. I think we should reevaluate your
>>>>>> claim that truckers are safe and responsible.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Your facts are false. The government itself confirms this. Regarding
>>>>> drivers falling asleep at the wheel. Truckers have sleepers on the back,
>>>>> where they get their legal 8 hours stretched out comfortably in the bunk
>>>>> after 10 hours of driving. You 4-wheelers sleep sitting up behind the
>>>>> wheel-- we see you doing it all the time. At least once every day I come
>>>>> on 4-wheelers who are either drunk or falling asleep. I come across a
>>>>> nodding off trucker about once per week. But ONE driver every year
>>>>> falling asleep while driving is too many.
>>>>>
>>>> Not my facts. These are from studies done and are posted on the
>>>> Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's website.
>>>>
>>> Institute for Highway Safety is hardly more reliable than the DOT. IHS
>>> has an agenda; the DOT and other government agencies don't.
>>
>> I take it then that you have number that show otherwise? I have no
>> reason to doubt the IIHS.
>
>You also don't doubt anything the railroads say. Bot have an agenda. A
>wise man has every reason to doubt their figures.
You are confusing me with someone else. That's alright. In a lengthy
discussion in the newsgroups it is sometimes difficult to keep track
of who said what. It's easier to remember if it was "us" or "them".
The only thing I said about railroads is that they would be used if
trucks were made illegal. I know trucks won't be made illegal. It was
just a tangent that discussions like this go off on.
>It's like the Iraq debacle. Bush and the Rummy say one thing; those
>opposed say something else. Bot sides have an agenda. Your agenda
>promotes the idea that truckers are evil.
I said that some truckers are unsafe and irresponsible. I am not and
have not been trying to label all truckers.
>Truckers on the other hand
>have plenty of reason to believe that most 4 wheelers shouldn't be
>allowed to drive a tricycle. Keep in mind, too, that all truckers drive
>a 4 wheeler when they are home.
>
>>>>> 4-wheelers drive stoned, drunk, sleepy, while applying makeup, using a
>>>>> cellphone, reading a paper spread across the wheel, watching TV on the
>>>>> dash, laughing with pals in the backseat, while getting a BJ.
>>>>>
>>>> I am not talking about 4-wheelers. I am not debating that there are
>>>> unsafe 4-wheelers. There are. But the fact that there are and the
>>>> number of unsafe 4-wheelers does not excuse the unsafe driving on
>>>> truckers. Truckers should be better drivers than 4-wheelers because of
>>>> the added responsibility of controlling 80,000 lbs of moving mass.
>>>> According to the article you posted, they are not. 1/3 of the wrecks
>>>> were caused by 3% of the vehicles. That's a lot.
>>>>
>>> Say what??? There was no such figure stated. Truckers ARe better drivers
>>> than 4 wheelers: that is a fact that is debated only by your IHS. The
>>> IHS is an organization of AUTO insurers. Hell, even the AAA-- which is
>>> hardly pro truckers-- agrees that autos cause the vast majority of
>>> accidents. In cities, maybe, just maybe trucks are only 3% of traffic
>>> (but I doubt it). Out on the freeways, I promise you, there are at least
>>> as many trucks as cars.
>>
>> I do not believe that there are nearly as many trucks as cars on the
>> freeway. It could be a difference of location that makes us see this
>> differently. But unless you have numbers you can post, I have to stick
>> with the numbers I found.
>
>The figures you found include all traffic. You are aware, aren't you,
>that most 4 wheelers drive the freeway only back and forth to work or to
>the mall...15-20 miles per day if that. The average trucker drives
>10,000+, 96% of it on the freeways. My wife and I drive 20,000-25,000
>miles per month, all but a hundred miles or so on the freeways.
Yes, I do. But I still look at the proportions. Trucks cause 1/3 the
wrecks, cars cause 2/3. As long as trucks make up 1/3 the freeway
traffic and cars 2/3 the freeway traffic, the breakdown of the wrecks
is balanced. If trucks make up less than 1/3 the vehicles on the
freeway, then their portion of the cause of accidents is
proportionally higher than cars.
>>>>> Truckers are drug tested regularly, our equipment is subject to daily
>>>>> inspections, we are fined huge sums of money for driving longer than
>>>>> legal hours, we don't attempt to read while driving, because we are on
>>>>> the road so much, most of us now use headphones with our cellphones,
>>>>> about half of us have more than half a million miles accident-free
>>>>> driving. I myself have 2.5 million accident-free miles.
>>>>>
>>>> Congratulations. You seem to be a safe trucker. I'm sure there are a
>>>> lot of other truckers like you. But there are some who are not.
>>>>
>>> sure there are some unsafe truckers: no one comes down harder on them
>>> than other truckers--we drop the dime to turn them in ourselves. The
>>> number is so small as to be insignificant, however.
>>
>> That obviously comes down to a difference of opinion of what
>> constitutes a safe trucker. Obviously, each of us have a biased
>> opinion.
>
>Until the driver proves that he can't be, truckers trust other
>truckers. We know pretty much how an experienced trucker will react in
>a given situation. Four wheelers are unpredictable--they panic, they
>whip the wheel left when right would have avoided the trouble, they
>speed up and slow down unexpectedly, causing the trouble. We also have
>the ability to communicate with one another.
I'm not going to argue with you on those points. For the most part, I
agree. But an experienced trucker is not necessarily a safe and
responsible one. What the experienced driver lacks in safety and
responsibility can be made up simply by the size of his truck.
>BTW, you should thank us for lessening long delays on the freeways. at
>lane closings and accidents, 4 wheelers refuse to merge into the open
>lane till the last moment, creating jam-ups. Wherever we know the law
>won't interfere, we truckers bottle up the soon-to-be closed lanes,
>allowing ALL traffic to continue to flow in a safe, slow, manner rather
>than the hurry-up and slam-brakes method of 4 wheelers in stop and go
>traffic. Wise cops applaud our actions.
Again, you are mentioning the virtues of truckers. My complaint is not
with all truckers.
I hate traffic. I would rather drive at 5 mph than stop and go and
stop and go and stop and go and I hope you get the picture.
>>>>> with your aggressive driving, it's a safe bet that you've had two or
>>>>> more fender-benders in the last five years and have received three
>>>>> traffic fines.
>>>>>
>>>> No fender benders, no moving violations. I did get a ticket for an
>>>> expired inspection sticker. But the cop let me keep my license.
>>>>
>>> If so, you have let your gonads overload your ass. You have portrayed
>>> yourself in this thread as a road bully, snarling, speeding then
>>> drastically slowing down a moment after cutting in front of trucks and
>>> cars. Evidently, you are not quite the aggressive asshole you've been
>>> claiming to be.
>>
>> I never claimed to be an aggressive asshole. To be honest, 1-1/2 years
>> of the 5-year time frame was spent driving on other than public roads.
>> Even so, the only moving violation I ever got was a wreck that was my
>> fault back in 1990. I do not feel that I have portrayed myself in the
>> manner you have described.
>
>I won't bother to go back and retrieve a dozen or so quotes from you.
>Take our word for it, you have been portraying yourself to be an overly
>aggressive asshole.
If I did, it was in response to the truckers that jumped in to defend
their own. That is noble, it really is. But you have already eluded to
the fact that there are truckers that are not safe. You stressed they
are not the majority (and I agree) but they are still there.
>>>>> I think you should reevaluate your likelihood of your surviving to the
>>>>> age of 40.
>>>>>
>>>>> "If drivers would pay more attention as to what they are doing and how
>>>>> they are driving around these commercial vehicles, I?m sure the accident
>>>>> rate would go down," Jamerson said.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> I do pay attention. As a matter of fact, I try to get away from them a
>>>> quickly as possible.
>>>>
>>> NOT if you are, as you have claimed, cutting in close then slowing down
>>> to punish the offending truckers.
>>
>> That is an exceptional case. I do not react like that to every truck I
>> pass. I do not react like that to every truck that pulls in front of
>> me, even if I have time to pass them on the right. I react like that
>> when the truck cuts me off and forces me to all but slam on the brakes
>> to keep from rear-ending him.
>
>That you do it EVER is dangerous and overly aggressive. That's akin to
>stomping on the toes of someone who accidentally steps on yours. If you
>had a CB, I'm certain that the offending driver would apologize for
>inconveniencing you. Look, we all make mistakes with our driving.
>That's why accidents are called accidents.
If a truck tailgates a car, it's alright because the truck is trying
to get the car to move out of the way. If a truck tailgates me, it is
because I am overly aggressive. A truck tailgating a car is either
safe or it isn't.
>When other truckers see a driver do something outrageously stupid, we
>tell him about it; if he cops an attitude with us, we chew his dumb ass
>for the next fifty miles--we do not overlook the dangerous driving of
>anyone! Buy one of those hand CBs, and listen in sometime. We are
>harder on one another than we are on you 4 wheelers.
Perhaps I should.
>>>>> He said frequent problems include motorists driving cars in a truck?s
>>>>> "blind spot" or pulling or cutting in front of tractor-trailers and then
>>>>> slowing down.
>>>>>
>>>> But what caused the wrecks where trucks were at fault? Was this a
>>>> legit article or a PSA from the truckers through the police
>>>>
>>> "Accidents happen, even to safe drivers." Haven't you seen the Allstate
>>> commercial??
Yes I have. I keep waiting for the rest of "The Unit" to join Dennis
Haysbert in the commercial.
